"Serving West and East Village, Chelsea, SoHo, NoHo, Little Italy, Chinatown and the Lower East Side"

Volume 76, Number 41 March 7 - 13, 2007

Editorial/Op-EdA convenient idea, an inconvenient spotA cornerstone of New York Universitys new Green Action Plan is the expansion and upgrading of its 30-year-old co-generation plant. Recently, N.Y.U. became one of the nations largest institutional purchasers of wind energy, and the co-generation project is in this same green vein.

Talking PointLow funds, spaces at risk: Its no walk in the parkBy Arthur Z. Schwartz
There are two ways to look at the situation in our local parks and playgrounds. Compared to 13 years ago, at the beginning of Rudy Giulianis mayoralty, our parks and playgrounds are in far, far better shape. A majority have undergone major renovation, and several more are slated for renovation in the next year or two.

SportsVillage girls teams give it their all at futsal tourneyBy Judith Stiles
The Greenwich Village girls went over the river and through the woods all the way to Marine Park in Brooklyn. They skipped old Grandmas house, as they headed straight for the annual Girls Indoor Futsal Tournament for a fun-filled day of glorious soccer.

Stop pedestrian deaths!Holding cutouts of white hands, symbolizing their call for a stop to pedestrian injuries and fatalities, more than 100 people rallied for safer streets at City Hall on Sunday. Organized by Transportation Alternatives, the event highlighted that half of pedestrian injuries and fatalities occur at 10 percent of the city’s intersections, including 16th St. and Ninth Ave., where an elderly woman was killed last month. They called on the mayor to improve safety at dangerous intersections and to criminalize and prosecute traffic fatalities.

N.Y.U. commits to creating a master plan for its growthBy Lincoln Anderson
For years, community members and local politicians have called on New York University, one of the nation’s largest private universities  yet lacking a clearly defined campus  to produce a master plan outlining its future growth. But never was a plan forthcoming.Don’t Trump Soho, condo-hotel protesters beg cityBy Lincoln Anderson
Chanting “Trump’s gotta go!” 150 hearty Soho and Hudson Square residents braved the cold and wind last Sunday to raise their voices against against Donald Trump’s Soho Condo-Hotel.

It’s looking bleak for Death & Co.By Julie Shapiro
Community Board 3 dealt another blow to bar and restaurant Death & Co. last week. The embattled lounge at 433 E. Sixth St. has come under fire from neighbors who oppose everything from its appetizer-stocked menu to its dark facade.

Wireless co.: We’re a latte cheaper than StarbucksBy Julie Shapiro
Enterprising New Yorkers who want to make some fast cash need look no farther than the nearest Starbucks. FON, an international wireless Internet company, is giving free wireless routers to anyone who lives near a Starbucks.

Crafting art out of traditionBy Kaija Helmetag
Sabrina Gschwandtner fits none of the stereotypes that one associates with a New York artist who keeps a studio in Chelsea. Seated on a recent afternoon at a large table in her white-walled space on West 26 Street, she flipped through a spray-painted copy of the limited edition craft magazine that she publishes and chatted about conceptual art and knitting without a hint of pretension.

Listen to The Villager on Internet Radio:Associate editor Lincoln Anderson and reporter Albert Amateau host guests Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society of Historic Preservation, and David McWater, chairperson of Community Board 3, on The Villager's pilot radio show on Tribecaradio.net. Zoning, preservation and future political aspirations (?) top the list of discussion topics on this 44-minute premiere.

Billboard food fight in Market gets hotBy Julie Shapiro
Guests of the Hotel Gansevoort are running out of places to eat. If they ask the hotel for reservations at casual French restaurant Florent, the hotel will tell them it’s not possible. What about the intimate Cafe Cluny? Nope. Or Asian eatery Spice Market? Sorry.

Board backs union in hotel flapBy Julie Shapiro
A vocal and fired-up group of New York City District Council of Carpenters members attended the Feb. 27 Community Board 3 meeting to advocate higher wages and benefits for nonunion workers employed by The Pomeranc Group. The nonunion workers are building a 20-story hotel for Pomeranc at 200 Allen St.

Bill would make it easier to close violent nightspotsBy Albert Amateau
The Police Department went to the City Council on Feb. 13 to support a bill to give the department’s Civil Enforcement Unit expanded powers under the Nuisance Abatement Law to close businesses where violent crimes have occurred.

N.Y.U. finding little cooperation on co-generationBy Lincoln Anderson
The key project in New York University’s Green Action Plan, or GAP  upgrading its co-generation plant  has some neighbors seeing red, at least those who feel they would be severely impacted by the construction. As a result, N.Y.U. now appears to be moving toward a new configuration for the project that it hopes will be more acceptable to the community.

The bad luck of the IrishBy Leonard Quart
The British director Ken Loach is an unabashedly, politically radical, social-realist filmmaker, committed to depicting working class lives.

Koch on filmBy Ed Koch“Amazing Grace” (-) This film tells the story of how a small group of men dedicated to ending slavery in the British Empire circa 1880 accomplished their goal.“Days of Glory” (“Indigenes”) (+)The battle scenes in this marvelous World War II movie rival those in “Band of Brothers,” which in my opinion is the best film ever made about World War II.

East Village IdolBy Sarah Elizabeth Feldman
It’s open mike night  “antihoot,” as the regulars call it at the Sidewalk Café on Avenue A, and Lach, the café’s proprietor, is in high spirits.

NEW WORKS FROM JAPAN View new drawings and watercolors by Michael Sanzone. Continues thru March 24; Tues.  Sat. from 10am  6pm. 55 MERCER GALLERY, 55 Mercer St., 3rd Floor. 212-226-8513. Pictured above are details from sixteen of two hundred and two works on paper from 2006.